A popular online medical dictionary describes "Tissue Deformation" thusly: "An alteration in shape or structure. Theprocess of adapting in shape or form.The temporary or permanentelongation of tissuewhen a prolongednondisruptivemechanicalforcehasbeenapplied.Thetemporarychangeinlength,volume,orshapeproducedinanelasticsubstancebyastressthatislessthantheelasticlimitofthesubstance." In other words, the force needed for me to remodel tissue must be greater than the Scar Tissue but less than the healthy tissue. Otherwise tearing occurs --- or any changes made are only temporary. Enter Dr. Mark Payne, inventor of the DAKOTA TRACTION DEVICE used for those struggling with Chronic Neck Pain.

CHRONIC NECK PAIN is a scourge in our hunched-over-our-computers-and-devices society. I've previously talked about Dr. Mark's work in making postural corrections that can actually alter the course of Chronic Neck Pain. I've also shown you why making said changes is relevant not only to those who have neck pain, but for those struggling with a wide variety of other health problems as well. Bottom line: If you can't get some Tissue Deformation going in your SCM MUSCLES and PLATYSMA, you can probably forget about making long-term changes to the structure of your neck. Listen to what Dr. Mark says in his latest newsletter about the different approaches required to stretch (remodel) tissues other than MUSCLES.

"Instead of the typical focus on just stretching taut musculature, our efforts are also going to include stretching the non-contractile tissues such as ligament, fascia, and tendon, all of which require sustained stretching (think 20-30 minutes of sustained low force daily stretching) to achieve visco elsastic / visco plastic deformation. That's why we typically need tools like extension traction devices......"

Even though they may never develop pain from it, the majority of our population has FORWARD HEAD POSTURE, as well as being in a perpetual (or nearly so) state of trunk and upper body Flexion --- a posture of rounded shoulders and slumped spine. What does this do? As Dr. Payne shows you, it has a deleterious effect on TENDONS, LIGAMENTS, and most particularly, FASCIA. Contrary to what your chiropractor may have told you, LARGE NUMBERS OF ADJUSTMENTS are not the solution to solving problems in these tissues. The only way to counter a flexed body is by working with it ("deforming" it) in the opposite direction ---- through EXTENSION THERAPY. Listen to what Wikipedia says about Tissue Deformation on their "Soft Tissue" page.

"Human soft tissue is highly deformable, and its mechanical properties vary significantly from one person to another. With increasing tissue deformation, collagen is gradually stretched in the direction of deformation. In soft tissues the collagen limits the deformation and protects the tissues from injury. Impact testing results showed that the stiffness and the damping resistance of a test subject’s tissue are correlated with the mass, velocity, and size of the striking object. When solid object impact a human soft tissues, the energy of the impact will be absorbed by the tissues to reducing effect of the impact or the pain level, therefore; subjects with more soft tissue thickness tended to absorb [dissipate] the impacts with less aversion."

Notice firstly that they are talking here about the most abundant protein in the human body --- COLLAGEN. Secondly, although it could be referring to things like HOCKEY or FOOTBALL injuries, it's most likely talking about the most common form of life-altering injury in our society --- MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS (sometimes we call these "WHIPLASH INJURIES"). Thirdly, the second part of this paragraph helps shed light on why women (or children for that matter) are so much more prone to these sorts of injuries than are men. It also explains why smaller is not necessarily better when it comes to the vehicle you drive. But let me take this whole process one step further.

When it comes to soft tissues, elasticity is better than stiffness, soft is better than hard, and normal tissue is better than Scar Tissue. In fact, the medical community has their own name for SCAR TISSUE --- FIBROSIS. If you click on the previous link and start reading, I promise that you will be shocked to learn that Fibrosis is arguably the number one cause of death in America. Where does it come from? Easy; INFLAMMATION. Follow the link and you'll see that INFLAMMATION always leads to Fibrosis. Period.

Although there are any number of potential drivers of Systemic Inflammation in the body (PARASITES, BLACK MOLD, SYSTEMIC YEAST, HEAVY METALS, PRESCRIPTION DRUGS, etc, etc, etc, etc,) the biggest by far is what you eat (SUGAR and GLUTEN are two of many). Furthermore, because GUT HEALTH is a gatekeeper of overall health and is itself heavily influenced by your diet (HERE for instance), failing to eat in a manner compatible with health (NOT JUST WEIGHT) will leave you with inflammation. This starts a cascade of health problems (HERE'S A SHOCKING ONE I wrote about just the other day), Inflammation, and Fibrosis. The end result is going to be pain, dysfunction, and ill health. Most importantly, over time it becomes almost impossible to separate these phenomenon from one another.

You can TREAT THE SYMPTOMS til the cows come home, but if you aren't willing to do some "heavy lifting" by making some serious lifestyle changes (and in some cases receive some INTENSIVE TREATMENT), it's not likely that much will change. If you are interested in seeing people who have made this change already, THIS PAGE is it. If you are interested in learning the ins and outs of what it's going to take to accomplish these changes, HERE it is --- free of charge.

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Dr. Schierling completed four years of Kansas State University's five-year Nutrition / Exercise Physiology Program before deciding on a career in Chiropractic. He graduated from Logan Chiropractic College in 1991, and has run a busy clinic in Mountain View, Missouri ever since. He and his wife Amy have four children (three daughters and a son).